novelraw Chapter 49: The Arrival
Chapter 49: The Arrival
The mountain root earth Qi is the earth Qi of this mountain.
Earth Qi has properties.
Therefore, it is said: "There is a great tree named You, with green leaves that remain green in winter, and fruit that is red and sour; consuming its bark and juice cures rebellious Qi. People of Qizhou cherish it, but when transplanted north of the Huai River, it becomes a Zhi. The Ququ bird does not cross the Ji River, and the badger dies if it crosses the Wen River; this is due to the earth Qi."
This means there's a great tree called You. Its green leaves stay green through winter, its fruit is red and sour, and eating its bark and juice can cure rebellious Qi. People in Qizhou value it, but if it's transplanted north of the Huai River, it becomes a Zhi (trifoliate orange). The Ququ bird won't cross the Ji River, and badgers die if they cross the Wen River, these are all effects of the earth Qi.
Earth Qi has properties. Different places have different earth Qi, leading to different local characteristics, situations, and customs.
Li Qi once thought all this was nonsense, but after careful consideration, he had to admit it was true.
In his world, the saying "an orange grown south of the Huai River is an orange, but grown north of the Huai River it becomes a trifoliate orange" was pure nonsense, it was just different varieties. But in this world, it was a real phenomenon.
Furthermore, in his original world, different regions had different temperatures due to latitude, because the Earth was round and received varying sunlight.
However, in this world, the land was flat.
In good light, standing on a hill, he could see for dozens of li, with no horizon whatsoever.Clearly, there was no concept of latitude or longitude here.
This was a world with a flat Earth and a round sky.
Therefore, what determined the nature of different regions could only be the ethereal earth Qi and heaven Qi.
Li Qi had realized many times that this world was completely different from his previous one.
Of course, there were some commonalities, but the deeper aspects were definitely different. For instance, the gravity here was definitely not the same as in his world; otherwise, the flat land would have long since collapsed.
Given this, he fully believed the Zhu book's description of mountain root earth Qi.
Why could a mountain be called a mountain?
What was the difference between a mountain and a mound of earth or pile of stones on the ground?
The difference was that a mountain had roots. A mountain, though seemingly just a towering pile of rock and earth, actually had an inverted mountain buried beneath the surface, even deeper and sturdier than the mountain above.
This was the mountain root, the foundation that allowed a great mountain to stand for ten thousand years without falling.
Without a mountain root, a mountain would simply collapse with a push. How could it stand tall?
The nature of the mountain root followed the surrounding terrain.
If the mountain root had gushing springs forming streams, that signified a harmonious blend of water and earth.
If the mountain root had rocky bones, it indicated an abundance of trees, teeming with life.
If a river eroded the mountain root from below, it would result in an earthen mountain with no trees or stones, a small mountain no more than a few dozen zhang high.
Legend had it that Mount Penglai had a mountain root that naturally formed a jade palace, with mirage towers creating splendid colors, transforming into a wondrous spectacle of the human world, truly marvelous.
These were all manifestations of the mountain root's nature.
And Li Qi, as a ritual priest specializing in Earth Deities, had a unique way of utilizing this mountain root earth Qi.
That was to combine it with heaven Qi.
The Zhu book states: "Earth Qi ascends, Heaven Qi descends, Yin and Yang rub against each other, Heaven and Earth collide, spurred by thunder and unleashed by wind and rain!"
Earth Qi rises to become clouds, Heaven Qi descends as rain. When clouds and rain combine, thunder is born!
Ritual priest were renowned for their combat prowess.
When this rabbit Shen Shuibi first encountered Li Qi, her assessment was: "They had ghosts and spirits protecting them, the heroic spirits of ancestors accompanying them, and heavenly spirits, earth deities, and gods from the four directions all bestowed their blessings upon them, possessing terrifying power." (See Chapter 23)
And Shen Shuibi, although her path was unknown, was confirmed to be fifth-rank.
However, Li Qi was still a novice, with only a few strands of Qi and no rank whatsoever.
But this didn't mean he couldn't use his knowledge and planning to try and create a trump card for himself.
The Azure Dragon divine qi granted by the Eastern Azure Dragon was a type of heaven Qi, but the Earth Deities he sacrificed to, the Household Gods Shentu and Yulei, did not grant earth Qi.
The Five Household Deities were Earth Deities, but they granted divine Qi, not earth Qi.
So at this moment, he was preparing to use his own Qi and this mountain god's aversion to him, to exchange for a strand of earth Qi.
The sacrificial ritual proceeded.
The mountain spirit sensed its inherent purity being defiled by human aura.
This greatly angered the originally pure mountain spirit, but this slight defilement was too weak for it, so it easily dispersed Li Qi's Qi and withdrew its power.
And Li Qi felt an indescribable pressure...
The surrounding mountains and forests... seemed not to like him?
There was a feeling of being rejected by the entire world.
"No wonder they say this method shouldn't be used carelessly... This is interfering with this mountain spirit's path. If it's lucky enough to transform into a god in the future, it might come looking for trouble with me..." Li Qi mocked himself.
Human Qi contaminating a mountain spirit, if this mountain spirit were to become a god in the future, its path would be much harder than that of an ordinary mountain spirit.
The unconscious mountain spirit's current aversion wouldn't have any substantial effect, so Li Qi wasn't worried. As for the future?
Joking aside, there are hundreds of millions of mountains in the world. How many can transform into gods?
The lottery has better odds than that.
"The preparations here are done... This altar will stay here," Li Qi looked up at the stone altar he had built.
This altar was entirely constructed from stones. He had even done a force analysis. Each stone weighed two to three hundred jin, totaling about ten thousand jin, or around ten tons of stone.
It was truly not easy to carry them all up.
Li Qi finished his work and glanced at the old horse and Shen Shuibi.
These two non-humans were even worse off than Li Qi; they were already exhausted and asleep. The old horse slept half-kneeling against a tree, and Shen Shuibi slept leaning against the old horse. Both were completely out.
How carefree...
But Li Qi dared not be so carefree.
Perhaps he wouldn't sleep tonight.
He found a high vantage point where he could survey the surroundings and sat down.
He continued to read.
It was already 0.8%. With daily diligence and hard study, there would always be gains.
Wasn't this trump card he gained today a result of his studies?
In the future, perhaps he too could speak like Shen Shuibi, effortlessly quoting various allusions and ancient texts.
As a former researcher, Li Qi was well aware that "knowledge is power."
While reading, Li Qi also kept an eye on the outside world.
However, before he could spot anything unusual in the distance, he first saw Shen Shuibi's ears suddenly perk up from her head.
Those cute bunny ears.
But before Li Qi could react, Shen Shuibi suddenly opened her eyes, her face filled with panic: "Hoofbeats! Something's coming! Many hoofbeats, at least ten of them!"
Upon hearing this, Li Qi immediately stood up.
Damn it, the divination truly was accurate.
(Chapter End)